


Like a Tidal Wave

by DoreyG



Category: Historical RPF, Plantagenets RPF
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: “Who knew that the queen of France would be so beautiful?” Henry FitzEmpress, son of the great empress Maud, bowed low over her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles in a courtly gesture. “And have such lovely hips.”
Relationships: Eleanor of Aquitaine/Henry Plantagenet
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Like a Tidal Wave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anabel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anabel/gifts).



“Who knew that the queen of France would be so beautiful?” Henry FitzEmpress, son of the great empress Maud, bowed low over her hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles in a courtly gesture. “And have such lovely hips.”

She blinked down at him. He had said it under his breath, almost as a casual observation, but her hearing had always been good. Nobody had ever dared to speak to her in such a way before, if anybody had ever made such an observation it had been kept safely inside their head. “What did you just say?”

There was a long moment of silence. Henry stared up at her for a moment, surprised, but didn’t apologise; instead, after that moment had passed, a small smirk crossed his lips as if he didn’t regret what he’d said the slightest bit. She felt her heart slowly start to pound faster at the sight, a gleeful patter that left her breathless and almost giddy.

“I _said_ : who knew that the queen of France would be so beautiful,” Henry surrendered eventually, if you could call such a smirk any kind of surrender. He slowly straightened up, stayed in her space for a moment too long - one that made her tingle all over in a way that she’d certainly never experienced with her husband - and then took a slow and deliberate step back. “And have such lovely hips.”

“Hm, I thought that was what you said,” she said casually, knowing that she should’ve been horrified - at him repeating himself so very loudly, for anybody in the court to hear - but instead feeling undeniably intrigued. She didn’t even have to think on what to do next, she turned to her wide eyed ladies and waved a hand dismissively. “Leave us.”

Blanche, who was one of the few ladies she kept around her who lacked any kind of self preservation, was the only one to speak up in a shaky and tentative tone. “But, my lady-”

“I said _leave us_ ,” she said, a great deal more sharply. Maybe the girl would go running straight to her saintly husband, maybe not; after almost a decade of endlessly trying to fit herself into a far too small box she found herself rather beyond caring. “Unless you want to suffer the consequences?”

She saw her ladies wage the internal battle between propriety and the kind of consequences she could bring, and all - even Blanche - come to the sensible conclusion. They turned on their heels and filed out without another word, only a few of them - the more endearingly curious - glancing back as if they expected the two of them to fall on each other the moment they no longer had witnesses around.

“A strange move,” Henry said, and didn’t move to fall on her. He kept his distance, stared at her with eyes that were thoughtful but undeniably respectful. “To leave yourself deliberately alone with a man who just commented on your physical attributes.”

“I have my reasons,” she said loftily; and didn’t tell him, not just yet, that she had already started to trust him just a little. She watched him for a moment, thoughtfully, and then held her hand out again - not a courtly gesture this time, not anything so restrained and meaningless, but the greeting of one ruler to another. “I’m Eleanor.”

Most men would’ve slapped her aside, or shifted uncertainly at the sight of a woman daring to claim power of her own. But Henry had been raised by the empress Maud, and knew full well that gender was only a limitation to fools. He hesitated for only a second, one that she suspected had more to do with her still being married to his greatest rival than anything else, and then gave a charming smile and reached out to take her hand in a firm grip. “Henry.”

Somehow the press of palm against palm was more arousing than anything her husband had done to her in over a decade of marriage. She would’ve been breathless at the fact, but somehow she was utterly unsurprised. “Do you make a habit of commenting on powerful women’s hips, Henry?”

“Only when their hips are as lovely as yours,” Henry practically purred. He held her hand for a moment longer than was proper, a dare that she was extremely happy to accept, and only withdrew it after that with an incredibly flirtatious smirk. “I can say things about your other physical attributes too, if you wish it.”

She felt excitement bubbling up within her, excitement that she hadn’t felt since before she’d married Louis so very long ago. “Mm, I wish it.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Henry said, and judging by his grin he was feeling exactly the same kind of heat. She’d never really been on exactly the same page as a person before, had never even thought to dream of it. “Your breasts are some of the loveliest that I’ve ever seen, even hidden away underneath that gown. Your nose is beautiful, so strong and noble and perfectly suited to your face. Your eyes are such an interesting shade, and sparkle with a kind of light that I’ve never seen before. And your general bearing… I haven’t seen you fight, not yet, but already I think that you’re probably a far more fearsome general than your husband could ever be.”

She had been expecting flattery. She hadn’t been expecting to be practically stripped bare, to be seen in a way that nobody else had ever bothered to. “Nobody has ever said any of that to me before.”

Henry hardly looked impressed. “Because they’re all idiots?”

“Possibly,” she said, because suddenly that seemed almost certain. She’d known that there was more to life, it was hard not to when you were cursed with a husband who was a living saint, but she’d never once thought to blink and suddenly be engulfed in a world of colour. “Nobody has ever attempted to woo me based on my hips, or my breasts, or the strength of my nose or the look in my eyes. Nobody has ever seen me as a general before, even when I’ve been on the battlefield. They’ve just seen me as a political pawn, an imperfect breeder - one apparently only capable of producing girls - to be moved around at whim.”

“Ah,” Henry said, and rolled his eyes; not at her, definitely not at her, but at an entire world that would reduce perfectly capable women to such a thing. “Definitely idiots, then.”

“I think so,” she said firmly, laying any shock aside in favour of the glorious future, and smiled up at him flirtatiously. “It’s extremely nice to meet you, Henry, and I’m extremely sad that I didn’t do so before. Now, do you want to hear what I think of _your_ physical attributes?”


End file.
